Treatment of fabrics



May 5, 1936. M. M. KASANOF TREATMENT OF FABRICS Filed Nov. '7, 1952 11vVENTOR M122; M Mf Patented May 5, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICETREATMENT OF FABRICS Application November 7, 1932, Serial No. 641.522

7 Claims.

My present invention relates generally to the treatment of fabrics forpurposes such as drying, shrinking, cleaning and the like and inparticular to the treatment of fabrics in tubular form by the actionthereon of fluids.

Among the general objects of my invention are the provision of anarrangement whereby the treatment of the fabric may be varied inaccordance with the requirements of the particular fabric to be treated,and the provision of an arrangement whereby the treatment may becontrolled so as to vary the effects to be produced on any given fabric.

In a copending application Ser. No. 641,521 filed Nov. 7, 1932, ,I haveshown apparatus for the fluid treatment of .tubular fabrics'in which thefabric is supported between spaced end members so as to form a tubularchamber, the outer walls of which are constituted by the fabric. Thetreating fluid is discharged into this chamber and emerges from thechamber bypassing through the walls of the fabric. By causing the fabricto move over the end members, the entire length of the fabric istreated, but at any one time only a portion of it is exposed to suchtreatment. The object to be attained by the apparatus disclosed in saidcopending application was stated to be the provision of a treatingchamber of such :length that a substantial portion of the fabric wouldbe exposed at one time, and the provision of relatively adjustable endmembers whereby the length of the treating chamber, and consequently thearea of fabric *exposed at one time, may be varied to suit differentfabrics and to obtain different effects on 'a given fabric. These endmembers are also constructed so as to offerlittleresistance to thepassage of thefabric thereover.

In my Patent #l,'711,094 of April 20, 1929, I have disclosed anarrangement whereby tubular fabrics may be subjected to the action ofair for drying purposes, and subsequently to the action of steam, all ofwhich is accomplished in one operation as the fabric is passed throughthe apparatus.

In the embodiment of my invention disclosed in the present application,I attain the combination of the air treatment with the steam treatmentas shown in my aforementioned patent, with .the substantiallyproportioned and adjustable treating chamber of my aforementionedapplication by using the steam treatment member of the patent in placeof one of the end members of the application.

.Anotherobject of :my invention is the provision of a dischargearrangement for the treating fluid whereby the resistance to itsdischarge will be minimized.

I attain the above and other objects by the use of steam and air fortreating purposes as disclosed in a general way in the aforementionedpatent, but instead of the air treating arrangement of the patent Iprovide a treating chamber of which one end is constituted by the steamdome and the other end by a guide member for the fabric, movable inrelation to the steam dome, so as to provide a treating chamberadjustable in extent and permitting a substantial area of the fabric tobe exposed totreatment at one time. The air discharge into this chambertakes place freely through the open end of the air conduit, incontradistinction to the arrangement shown in the patent wherein air isdischarged from a series of restricted openings directly into thefabric.

While I have mentioned the use of steam'and air, since these arecustomarily used in treating fabrics, it is to be understood that otherfluids having the desired properties may be used as will readily suggestthemselves to those skilled in the art, and it is further to beunderstood that I use the term fluid in a generic sense to include allmedia suitable for use in my apparatus for the treatment of fabrics.

The invention, however, is not intended to be restricted to theparticular construction and arrangement of parts herein disclosed, norto the particular application of such construction, nor to the specificmethods of operation, as the same may be modified in various particularsor be applied in various relations without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention, a practical embodiment of which has beenillustrated and described, without attempting to show all of the variousforms and modifications in which the invention might be practiced. It isfurther understood that while I have described and illustratedembodiments which attain many or all of the enumerated objects, otherembodiments may be employed to utilize only a few or even only one ofsaid objects, and not all of them.

For the attainment of the above enumerated objects and such otherobjects as may herein appear or be pointed out, I have shown anillustrative embodiment of my invention in the drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of my invention; and

Figure 2 is a similar view on a greatly enlarged scale with portionsbroken away to illustrate the details of the apparatus, and the extremeupper portion of the apparatus being illustrated in a different relationto the other parts from that shown in Figure 1.

Upon viewing the drawing it will be observed that the fabric I is shownin place in the apparatus in Figure 2, and that by its contact betweenthe surface IB of steam dome II and the periphery of member 38, achamber is formed of which the fabric itself constitutes the outer wall.Some idea of the extent of this chamber may be formed from an inspectionof Figure 1, in which the relative disposition of the parts is moreapparent than from Figure 2, in which portions are broken away. It willbe observed that due to the spacing between steam dome I I and member38, the portion of fabric between those parts is substantial in area,and the extent of such area may be varied either to increase it or todecrease it, by changing the position of member 38 by shifting itsposition on the conduit 30. This conduit serves to conduct air fromsupply pipe 36 and fitting 32 into the treating chamber and there it isdischarged freely through the open end 3| of the conduit into thechamber and through the fabric.

The fabric may be pulled through the apparatus by any suitable pullingarrangement (not shown), such as drawing rollers, which may be locatedat the upper end of the apparatus, and, as it moves over the member 38,and the steam dome I I, it is subjected first to an air treatment(between member 38 and surface I6), then to a heat treatment (by thewalls I6), next to the direct action of steam, issuing from orifices I4in the steam dome II, and into the space 28 formed between I6 and thestretching ring I2 located on the steam dome. It receives another heattreatment serving to dry it and give it a finished appearance, on thesurface 22 of the'steam dome II, and from there passes over a spreaderor stretcher member 23 and into the pulling device.

In order to insure easy motion and freedom from injury to the fabricIII, the periphery of member 38 is of annular or beaded form and ofsmall area, so as to reduce friction. To provide adjustability, theannular member 38 is mounted on a split collar 40, engaging 'conduit 30and may be made removable therefrom in any suitable and convenientmanner such, for instance, as that shown for the part 35 in my Patent#1,648,614 of November 8, 1927. By using this construction, member 38may be replaced by other similar members of different sizes or ofdifferent shapes.

The ring I2 on the steam dome may be similarly made adjustable andremovable and it is also made beaded in form to reduce frictionalresistance.

The steam dome I I, as illustratively shown, is of the type disclosed inmy Patent #1548514, above mentioned, and reference is made to thatpatent for the. details of its construction. It is mounted, so as to bereadily removable, on the upper ends of steam pipe I3,receiving itssteam from supply pipe I-and of drain pipe I1, which serves to drain offcondensed steam from the steam dome.

Pipes I3 and I! pass through the air conduit 30 and through cap 34,closing end of fitting 32, and serve to heat the air used for thetreatment.

A platform 42 may be provided for the purpose of gathering the fabricbefore it passes through the apparatus, this being indicated in Figure2.

When it is desired to use my invention, the

steam dome and annular member are first removed and the fabric slippedover the conduit 30 and gathered over the platform 42. The member 38 isnext replaced, as is also the dome II and steam is admitted into thedome and air into the conduit 30. The annular guide member is adjustedso as to form a treating chamber of the desired length, that is a lengthadapted to the character of the fabric to be treated, the character ofthe treatment, and the speed of passage of the fabric through theapparatus.

The upper end of the fabric is then drawn over member 38, dome I I andspreader 23 and led into the pulling device, which acts to draw theentire length of fabric through the apparatus.

While the operation of my invention has been described in connectionwith the treatment of the fabric by two different fluids, it is obviousthat for certain purposes the same fluid may be employed in bothconduits, or-that fluid may be supplied to only one conduit while theother one is not used. For example, steam might be. discharged fromconduit 30 and also pass into the steam dome, or on the other hand airmight be I used in conduit 30, while the steam supply is shut off andsteam dome I I 'is idle, or, again air might be discharged from thesteam dome while con duit 30 is idle. Also, steam might be used inconduit 30 and air in steam dome I I. These and other possibilities ofuse will readily suggest themselves to users of my apparatus.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use, what I claimas new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for treating tubular fabrics having a treating chamber andmeans for guiding, heating, steam-treating and forming said fabricdefining one end of said chamber, means restricted in contact area andadjustable relatively to said first means for guiding said fabric at theother end of said chamber, and the fabric itself constituting the wallof said chamber, means for introducing steam into said steam-treatingmeans, and means for introducing a fluid into said treating chamber.

2 Apparatus of the character described comprising a conduit open at itsend to permit the unrestricted discharge of a treating fluid, asecondconduit for conducting a second treating fluid located within saidfirst-mentioned conduit, a hollow body having discharge openings for thesecond fluid carried by the second conduit in spaced relation to theopening of the first conduit, and an annular member adjustablypositioned on the first conduit, whereby a tubular fabric may be guidedover said annular member and said hollow body and during its passagesubjected to the successive action of the two fluids. 1 3. Apparatus ofthe character described comprisin a conduit open at its end to permitthe unrestricted dischargeof a treating fluid, a second conduit forconducting a second treating fluid located within said first-mentionedconduit, a hollow body having discharge openings for the unrestricteddischarge of a treating fluid, a second conduit for conducting athermally active treating fluid located within said first-mentionedconduit, a hollow body having discharge openings for the second fluidcarried by the second conduit, in spaced relation to the opening of thefirst conduit, and adapted to heat, to guide and toform said fabric, andan annular member adjustably positioned on the first conduit, whereby atubular fabric may be guided over said annular member and said hollowbody and during its passage subjected to the successive action of thetwo fluids and to heat.

5. 'An apparatus for drying and finishing tubular fabrics comprising aconduit for conducting hot air, a pair of members over which the tubularfabric is drawn, forming an elongated annular drying chamber defined bythe conduit, the tubular fabric and the said pair of members, one of thesaid members being provided with instrumentalities for stretching,steam-treating and heating the fabric, and an opening in the saidconduit for introducing hot air into the said elongated annular chamber.

6. An apparatus for drying and finishing tubular fabric comprising anouter conduit for conducting hot air, a pair of members over which thetubular fabric is drawn, forming an elongated annular drying chamberdefined by the conduit, the tubular fabric and the said pair of members,the outer conduit being provided with an opening wherethrough hot air isintroduced into the said elongated drying chamber, one of the said pairof members being provided with instrumentalities for stretching,steam-treating and heating the fabric, and an inner conduit forconducting steam to the steam-treating and heating member.

'7. An apparatus for drying and finishing tubular fabric comprising aconduit for conducting hot air, a pair of members over which the tubularfabric is drawn, forming a suspended annular drying chamber defined bythe conduit, the tubular fabric and the said pair of members, an openingin the said conduit for introducing hot air into the said suspendedchamber, a platform at the base of the conduit upon which the Wet fabricis piled, the lower one of the said pair of members being adjustable inrelation to the said platform so that the pile of Wet fabric may beimmediately suspended, formed into an annular chamber, and dried.

MAURICE M. KASANOF.

